Making a Dictionary of Key Terms

Aims

Students will develop their understanding of a selected aspect of theatre technology, design or theatre architecture, by creating a dictionary of key terms associated with a significant person. Students will also extend their specialist vocabulary.

Key Information

Number of learners	Groups of two or three students. Multiple groups can do the project at the same time.
Number of staff	1 teacher.
ECTS Credits (if applicable)	5 ECTS

Learning process

	Lecture/seminar	Lecture, presentation, discussion (face-to-face or online)
X	Making project	Making a model, mock-up, plan or design (physical or digital)
	Performance project	Making a performance or demonstration (live or mediated)
X	Records and Archives	Interviews, photographs and videos of artefacts, annotating archives, creating learning materials (physical or digital)
X	Independent study	Reading, researching, analysing and evaluating learning materials (physical or digital) in groups or alone

Type of learner

X	Student of technical theatre
X	Student of theatre design, architecture
X	Student of theatre arts
X	Professional
X	Researcher
X	General public

What You Will Need

Duration and schedule

Weekly sessions for one semester: two hours for the learners to prepare each week, plus a one hour review with the teacher.

Room or type of space

Classroom.

Equipment

Depending on the format of the dictionary, students may need access to various software platforms.

Materials (consumables)

None.

Learning resources (books, websites)

Books, journals, websites and other sources of information about the selected person (both physical and/or online).

Process

Preparation

Select the person for the case study, and gather information: texts, books, chapters, articles, drawings, and so on.

Prepare a presentation about the selected person.

The learning activity

Introduce students to the selected person, explaining their work and background circumstances: time, historical period, cultural context, and so on.

Each week the students research, read and start to collect the key words that will be in their dictionary. Also, weekly there are sessions with the teachers to supervise, adjust and refine the selection and the definitions made by the students.

At the end of the semester we might expect to have a dictionary with the most important concepts associated with the selected person. Through this process, the student group gets an in-depth knowledge of the historical importance of the selected person and their work, ideas and vision for the theatre.

Assessment and feedback

Students receive feedback throughout the process. The final dictionary can be formally marked if required, and written comments given.

Our Experience

Tips

It is important students dedicate enough time to the research process before starting to write the definitions. They should read fully the resources provided by the teacher and expand their reading with other examples.

Make sure students cover all aspect of the work of the selected person: their technical and creative processes, key concepts and theories, and so on.

Choose the person carefully. You may want to use a particular person to fit into the students’ wider learning, or you might want to use someone that students already have a connection with from previous study, or they have a particular local significance.

You can adapt the way the students develop and express their ideas, according to their skills and areas of interest. As well as written definitions of the terms, students should consider including drawings, diagrams, photographs and videos drawn from the resources they have, or which they make themselves.

You don’t have to make a dictionary about a person. Consider making one about a building, an invention, a theatre company, an artistic movement…

Additional information and resources

Masters students at UPC studying architecture created a dictionary about the work of Jerzy Grotowski (Q30479):

File:IO4 35 Dictionary of Terms Grotowski.pdf

Credits

This learning method was made by:	Antoni Ramon, Guillem Aloy
Institution:	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona Tech.